In wireless networks, one or more subscriber stations communicate through a base station. A subscriber station receives traffic from the base station in the downlink (DL) channel and sends traffic to the base station in the uplink (UL) channel. The DL channel is a broadcast channel because the transmissions by a base station can be received by all the subscriber stations that are in the base station's coverage area. Different parts of the DL transmission, however, may be destined only for specific subscriber stations, and not for others. In some cases the base station may inform the subscriber stations about the allocations in the DL frame before it transmits the traffic destined for specific subscriber stations in the DL channel. In this case, different subscriber stations may process only the portion of the DL channel that is intended for them. In other cases, the base station may not send out information regarding allocations in a DL frame. In this case, the subscriber station may process all portions of the DL frame in order to determine what if any portions are allocated to that subscriber station. This process may take up valuable time and processing power.
Thus, there are general needs for systems and methods for reducing processing time and power consumption by more efficiently handling DL transmissions, particularly when the base station does not send out information regarding allocations in the DL frame.